Re: Confirmation of Avian Influenza H7N2 Infection
Re: Confirmation of Avian Influenza H7N2 Infection
Date: Tue 20 May 2007
Source: BBC News online a.m. Tue 29 May 2007 [edited]
<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6699595.stm>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=556 border=0 valign="top"><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD vAlign=top width=2 bgColor=white> </TD><TD vAlign=top width=554><!-- start: main content --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" summary="" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=left><INPUT onclick="javascript:this.disabled=true; doSubmit('Back');" type=button value=Back></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE summary=""><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap align=right>
Archive Number</TD><TD noWrap align=left>20070529.1734</TD></TR><TR><TD noWrap align=right>
Published Date</TD><TD noWrap align=left>29-MAY-2007</TD></TR><TR><TD noWrap align=right>
Subject</TD><TD noWrap align=left>PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza H7N2, human - UK (05), WHO</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
AVIAN INFLUENZA H7N2, HUMAN - UK (05), WHO</PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></P>Avian flu contacts 'identified'
-------------------------------
Teachers and pupils at Ysgol Henllan have been given treatment [for
avian influenza]. Health officials say they have identified all the
people who came into close contact with an outbreak of avian flu at a
smallholding in north Wales. The number of people found to have had
contact with the disease rose over the weekend to 142, of which 12
are being treated as being positive for bird flu. The mild H7N2
strain of bird flu was first found last week [20-26 May 2007] among
chickens at a farm near Corwen, Conwy.
Children at a Denbighshire school are being offered anti-viral
medication. A year-5 pupil at Ysgol Henllan suspected of contracting
the virus has been linked to the smallholding. A dozen children, aged
9 and 10, and 2 teachers at the school are being given Tamiflu
treatments as a precaution. The National Public Health Service of
Wales has said a total of 142 people have had either direct or
indirect contact with the virus, which is not the virulent H5N1
strain of avian flu. A total of 12 people are being treated as
"positive," but no one is seriously ill.
Of the 142 to come into contact with the virus, 47 came into contact
"in the household setting," 14 in the school and 81 in "the workplace
setting." Health officials held a meeting for concerned parents at
the school on Monday evening [28 May 2007], in which it was stressed
the risk of anyone contracting the virus is very small.
The National Public Health Service of Wales's director for north
Wales, Andrew Jones, said it was "reassuring" so few people had
reported symptoms. He said, "We are treating 12 cases as positive. We
always approach schools in a precautionary way. We are advising them
that the risk to the population is low and that avian flu is a
disease of birds. It would be very unusual for it to spread from
person to person."
Hugh Pennington, a microbiologist and bird flu expert from Aberdeen
University, added, "You have to be in quite close contact with
infected birds to get infected. It doesn't spread from one infected
person to another. It's still a bird virus; someone infected isn't
going to cause any more human cases."
The 1st confirmed case involved a smallholding at Llanfihangel Glyn
Myfyr, Conwy. Owners Tony Williams and Barbara Cowling, who have
tested negative for the virus, called in a vet after their Rhode
Island Red chickens began to die. They bought the chickens at
Chelford Market at Macclesfield, Cheshire, some 70 miles (112 km)
away, on 7 May [2007]. A total of 30 chickens from the smallholding
have now been slaughtered after 15 birds died.
The 2nd possible case emerged on Saturday [26 May 2007] about 35
miles (56 km) away, at a farm on the outskirts of Efailnewydd, near
Pwllheli. It has also been linked to the market.
******
[2]
Date: Tue 29 May 2007
Source: BBC News, online, p.m. Tue 29 May 2007 [edited]
<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6701927.stm>
Bird flu checks reach hospitals
-------------------------------
Hospital patients and staff are being offered anti-viral treatment by
health officials fighting a bird flu outbreak in north Wales. Nearly
80 people at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd at Bodelwyddan are being offered
Tamiflu because of contact with a health worker who is being treated
for the H7 virus. About another 70 patients and staff at Ysbyty
Gwynedd in Bangor are being contacted to see that they are well.
A total of 12 people with flu-like symptoms or conjunctivitis have
been identified. The National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS)
stressed that no one has been seriously ill and the risk to the
health of the general public is low. So far the service has found a
total of 221 people who may have come into contact with the virus,
which is not as serious as the H5NI strand of the disease.
History of outbreak:
24 May [2007]: The 1st outbreak at Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, Conwy; 45
chickens slaughtered but farms test negative for virus.
26 May: The 2nd possible outbreak at farm at Efailnewydd, near
Pwllheli; no test results yet.
29 May: A total of 221 may have had contact with bird flu; 36 in
"household setting," 14 in school, 171 in workplace.
The 1st confirmed case of the avian flu was confirmed last Thursday
[24 May 2007] among chickens on a smallholding near Corwen in
Denbighshire. The Rhode Island chickens 1st affected were bought at a
Chelford Market in Macclesfield, Cheshire on 7 May. On Saturday [26
May 2007] a 2nd possible case emerged at a farm on the outskirts of
Pwllheli although results of tests on birds there have not been finalised.
Some year-5 children at Ysgol Henllan in Denbighshire are being
offered anti-viral treatment after one pupil was linked to the 1st
smallholding. The NPHS said 79 patients and staff from ward 6 at Glan
Clwyd Hospital were now being offered Tamiflu as a precaution. A
further 69 patients and staff from the A&E unit, Tryfan and Gogarth
wards at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor have been contacted because a
patient, who has now been discharged, has also had treatment for the virus.
Marion Lyons, NPHS's communicable disease control consultant, said,
"We have assessed the risk to others and can confirm that the
healthcare worker was working at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd during the time
when she may have been infectious, between 21 and 23 May [2007]. The
patient at Ysbyty Gwynedd may also have been infectious while at
Ysbyty Gwynedd. However, as the patient was discharged on 18 May, and
the incubation period is 8 days, anyone would have had symptoms by 26 May."
The NPHS stressed that experience of this particular bird flu virus
in humans was limited, so it was "actively managing" the response.
Person-to-person spread would be very unusual, it said, but limited
spread has been seen elsewhere in the past. Dr Lyons added, "We are
looking for people who have had flu-like symptoms or conjunctivitis.
It is the symptoms which are important to identify. It is reassuring
that so few of the large number of contacts have had symptoms."
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<
promed@promedmail.org>
******
[3]
Date: Tue 29 May 2007
Source: World Health Organisation (WHO, CSR, Disease Outbreak News,
Tue 29 May 2007 [edited]
<
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_05_29/en/index.html>
Avian influenza A/(H7N2) in the United Kingdom
----------------------------------------------
On 25 May 2007, the United Kingdom Health Protection Agency (HPA)
announced that influenza A/H7N2 virus infection had been laboratory
confirmed in four individuals exposed to infected poultry in Corwen
Farm, Conwy, Wales. The poultry outbreak in Wales started on a
smallholding, Corwen Farm, Conwy, on 8 May 2007, was laboratory
confirmed on 24 May 2007, and notified to the World Organisation for
Animal Health on 25 May 2007.
For more information from the WHO Regional Office for Europe, see:
<
http://www.euro.who.int/flu/situation/20070526_1 >
(Human cases of avian influenza A/H7N2 in the United Kingdom)
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Marianne Hopp
[The number of individuals under surveillance and offered Tamiflu
treatment as a precautionary measure has increased, but the number of
persons exhibiting flu-like symptoms and/or conjunctivitis remains at
12. There is no unequivocal evidence to suggest that the H7N2 virus
exhibits an enhanced ability to spread from person to person. - Mod.CP]:tiphat:
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/prome..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,37622
[see also:
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